The Nissan Caravan is a light commercial van designed for use as a fleet vehicle or cargo van and manufactured by Nissan since 1973. Between 1976 and 1997, a rebadged version of the Caravan sold as the Nissan Homy, which was introduced as an independent model in 1965. Outside Japan, the Caravan was also sold as either the Nissan Urvan or Nissan King Van, or earlier with Datsun badging.
All generations use a cabover approach due to Japanese Government dimension regulations that annually tax larger vehicles, and the cabover approach maximizes interior space while remaining within defined exterior dimensions.
Prior to 1973, the Caravan’s twin, the Homy had been offered as a standalone generation from 1965 until 1976. The Homy was built and sold by the Prince Motor Company before the merger of Nissan in 1965 and the Homy was the first vehicle to be acquired by Nissan. After the merger in August 1966, because Nissan didn’t have a large passenger platform, the Prince Homy was “badge engineered” as the Caravan, and the brand name was changed from Prince to Nissan. The merger was complete by 1970. It shared a chassis with the Prince Homer, a medium-duty cabover pickup truck.
The second generation Homy of 1976, was marketed as a twin to the 1973-era Nissan Caravan, sold at the Nissan Prince Store dealerships, while the Caravan was exclusive to Nissan Bluebird Store locations. The first generation series B640 which was changed to Nissan series T20 was built from 1965 to 1976, the second generation E20 was built from 1976 to 1980, and the third generation E23 was built from 1980 to 1986. The final generation E24 was built from 1986 to 1999, and replaced by the Nissan Elgrand.
Mechanically, the Nissan Caravan and the Nissan Homy were identical. Its traditional competitor from Toyota is the HiAce.
Nissan’s largest passenger van is the Nissan Civilian, introduced in 1959, and their smaller platform was the Nissan Vanette.
